Positioning System and Method

ABSTRACT

A method and system for providing location information to a mobile device includes providing an apparatus with a beacon. The apparatus stores identification information associated with the apparatus, and obtains information describing the correspondence between location information and apparatus identification information to determine the location of the apparatus from the stored identification information. The apparatus transmits the location information to the beacon which transmits the information to the mobile device. In addition, information defining movement of a mobile device through a navigation zone includes an array of beacons that are in communication with each other. The mobile device is provided at a first location in the navigation zone and communicates with a first beacon to indicate its proximity to the first beacon. The device moves through the zone to other locations and communicates with another beacon in proximity to the second location to indicate its proximity to the second beacon.

The present invention relates to a system and method for providinglocation information, and particularly, but not exclusively, to a systemand method for providing location information and information definingmovement of a mobile device through an indoor environment.

A navigation system requires three elements to operate. The first is asystem for determining coordinates, (e.g. x=45.34, y=−75.90 in an x-yplane). The second is a means to resolve those coordinates into terms ahuman understands (e.g. 350 Legget Drive, Ottawa, Ontario). The third isthe ability to understand the paths between two points (source anddestination) so that directions can be derived.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is perhaps the best understood andutilized navigation system today. Unfortunately GPS signals do notpenetrate inside buildings, leaving indoor navigation devoid of a singlestandard solution. Although a variety of methods have been attempted toaddress indoor navigation, they all experience the same fundamentalproblems.

A first problem is that of trying to determine the location. The mostpopular method is trilateration, which is the process of determining theabsolute or relative location of points by measuring distances and usingthe geometry of circles, spheres, or triangles. Rather the measuringdistance using traditional means, the strength of a wireless signal canbe used to infer distance. Since a mobile device leverages wirelesstechnology, this is the most widely used technique which is used.

A second problem is that of labelling the location with a name whichrequires human intervention. Typically, a variety of strategies areemployed to try to overlay physical Cartesian co-ordinates onto wirelessnetworks, which in turn are overlaid onto maps. This takes considerableeffort from a hardware and software perspective, and is often tooexpensive for average deployments. Even when indoor maps are available,these do not always align with the coordinate system. Typical problemsare that RF signal strengths do not directly map (for example, in alinear manner) to building measurements, and the signal strengths can beimpacted by walls, furniture, or even people.

A third problem is that of determining the pathways between two points.Typical solutions rely on an “administrator” creating pre-recorded pathsthrough an area populated with sensors. The administrator carries adevice which measures direction, speed and so forth. If a person is inproximity to the start of a pre-recorded path, the system can provideguidance to a specified destination.

An alternative model is to use wireless signal strengths to try toestimate a users' position. This requires that the system be “trained”by an administrator, who walks throughout the building taking“fingerprints”, which are a snapshot of signal levels at various pointsof interest, and manually labels the points of interest accordingly(e.g. “Lunchroom”). An individual's location is determined by comparingtheir signal strengths to the list of fingerprint reference points.Unfortunately this requires at least three signals at different anglesof flight to determine an approximate position in a three dimensionalplane (e.g. multi level building), with Wi-Fi signals typically beingused for trilateration. A key technical problem with these solutions isthat signal propagation is significantly impacted by walls and evenpeople. So as changes to the environments are made, or more or lesspeople are in a given space, erroneous readings occur. Additionally,knowing one's position does not help guide someone to another location.

There is therefore a high degree of human involvement required toinstall and maintain an indoor navigation system. The hardware providingthe signals needs to be installed, and the administrator must then mapall strengths throughout the building and label key locations within adatabase, a term known as “Finger Printing”. The administrator must thendefine all directions between the various permutations and combinationsof fingerprints. Once complete, the system can begin operation butongoing maintenance and adjustment is required to improve the accuracyof the system as wireless signals can deviate as the environment changes(amount of people, etc).

The present invention is intended to resolve the need for fingerprintingand manual input of routes between fingerprints.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided amethod of providing location information to a mobile device, comprisingproviding an apparatus with a beacon, in which the apparatus storesidentification information associated with the apparatus, the apparatusobtaining information describing the correspondence between locationinformation and apparatus identification information to determine thelocation of the apparatus from the stored identification information,the apparatus transmitting the location information to the beacon, andthe beacon transmitting the location information to the mobile device.

The correspondence between location information and apparatusidentification information may be based on a Lightweight DirectoryAccess Protocol, LDAP.

The correspondence between location information and apparatusidentification information may be stored at the apparatus.

The location information provided to the mobile device is converted intoa position in a predetermined mapping zone may be stored at the mobiledevice.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda method of determining information defining movement of a mobile devicethrough a navigation zone, comprising providing the navigation zone withan array of beacons, in which each of the beacons in the array is incommunication with one or more other beacons in the array, providing amobile device at a first location in the navigation zone, the mobiledevice communicating with a first beacon in proximity to the firstlocation to indicate its proximity to the first beacon, the mobiledevice moving through the navigation zone to a second location andcommunicating with a second beacon in the array in proximity to thesecond location to indicate its proximity to the second beacon, themobile device providing the second beacon with information defining thedirection of movement of the mobile device between the first and secondlocations, and the second beacon communicating with the first beacon toshare the relative positions of the second and first beacons, based onthe direction of movement of the mobile device.

The method may further comprise providing navigation information to themobile device between two locations based on the relative position ofbeacons respectively located at each of the two locations.

Providing navigation information may comprise determining an optimalroute between the two locations, in which the optimal route is a pathwaywhich passes the fewest number of beacons.

The mobile device may determine information defining the direction ofmovement of the mobile device between the first and second locationsbased on a sensor in the device, in which the sensor may be a magneticcompass.

The mobile device may further communicate to the second beaconinformation relating to the signal strength of signals received by themobile device at the second location from a plurality of beacons in thearray, and the second beacon may use the received information to defineits position relative to each of the plurality of beacons from whichsignals are received by the mobile device.

The second beacon may provide information to a third beacon defining thelocation of the first beacon relative to the second beacon, the thirdbeacon determining its location relative to the first beacon using thereceived information.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda system for providing location information to a mobile device,comprising an apparatus storing identification information associatedwith the apparatus, a beacon provided in proximity to the apparatus,wherein the apparatus is configured to obtain information describing amapping between location information and apparatus identificationinformation to determine the location of the apparatus from the storedidentification information, the apparatus is configured to transmit thelocation information to the beacon, and the beacon is configured totransmit the location information to the mobile device.

The apparatus may have a fixed location and be a computer or afixed-line telephone.

The beacon may be arranged to communicate with the mobile device usingBluetooth Low Energy, BLE.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda system for determining information defining movement of a mobiledevice through a navigation zone, comprising a plurality of beaconsdistributed over a navigation zone, in which each of the plurality ofbeacons is in communication with one or more other beacons of theplurality of beacons, wherein a first beacon in proximity to a firstlocation is arranged to receive information from a mobile deviceconfirming it is in proximity to the first beacon, a second beacon inproximity to a second location is arranged to receive information from amobile device confirming it is in proximity to the second first beacon,the second beacon is further configured to receive information definingthe direction of movement of the mobile device between the first andsecond locations; and the second beacon is arranged to communicate withthe first beacon to share the relative positions of the second and firstbeacons, based on the received information relating to the movement ofthe mobile device.

Each beacon array may be connected to a fixed device, or may be astandalone beacon, or the array may comprise a combination of both typesof beacon.

Embodiments of the invention provide a method and apparatus to create anadaptive zero touch (in the sense that no manual input is required by auser) location based navigation system. When the hardware is deployedthe system will monitor mobile devices to discover, analyze, adjust, andreport traffic patterns for user navigation purposes indoors where GPSnavigation features do not work. The system can leverage installed deskphones to determine the points of interest within the location, and thenoffer turn by turn directions to users that are unfamiliar with theenvironment such that they can find people, places, or things.

By combining hardware into a fixed device such as a desk phone, andleveraging existing protocols such as LDAP, which is used to identifyand assign a name and number to the desk phone, fingerprinting can beeliminated and a list of known locations (or points of interest) can becreated. All rooms within a location such as an office or hotel thatcontain a phone will automatically be named (e.g. lobby, front desk,Peter Hillier (office)). The ability to leverage LDAP and existinghardware (e.g. phone systems) to label a building is thus anadvantageous aspect of the present invention.

Having established location information, a wired phone networkconfigured with beacons as described above, or alternatively anindependent sensor grid, can then begin learning the various pathwaysthat exist within the building, without the use of a map. The algorithmthat handles the route and direction-learning (pathways) uses a mobiledevice's magnetic compass and wireless signals to pass information tothe location grid as people move about the building. The paths thatpeople take are “discovered” and then converted to directions which canthen be fed to users who are uncertain of the directions to take to getfrom point A to point B. This information is distributed across the gridso the entire system learns all points of travel.

How the information is collected, interpreted, and distributed will bedescribed in more detail below with reference to embodiments of thepresent invention, which will be presented by way of example only, withreference to the following Figures, in which:

FIG. 1 shows a system used in determining location information accordingto an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 shows a system used in presenting location information to a userof a mobile device, according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 shows a navigation zone equipped with a beacon array according toan embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 shows an example of an enumerated beacon array used in theembodiment shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 shows a nearest-neighbour table constructed for a portion of theenumerated beacon array of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 shows an example of pathways throughout the navigation zonerepresented in FIG. 4.

Reference will now be made to the exemplary embodiments illustrated, andspecific language will be used herein to describe the same. It willnevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of theinvention is thereby intended. In the descriptions that follow, likeparts are marked throughout the specification and drawings with the samenumerals, respectively. The figures are not necessarily drawn to scaleand certain aspects are shown in exaggerated or generalized form in theinterest of clarity and conciseness.

As used herein, the term “substantially” refers to the complete ornearly complete extent or degree of an action, characteristic, property,state, structure, item, or result. For example, an object that is“substantially” enclosed would mean that the object is either completelyenclosed or nearly completely enclosed. The exact allowable degree ofdeviation from absolute completeness may in some cases depend on thespecific context. However, generally speaking the nearness of completionwill be so as to have the same overall result as if absolute and totalcompletion were obtained. The use of “substantially” is equallyapplicable when used in a negative connotation to refer to the completeor near complete lack of an action, characteristic, property, state,structure, item, or result.

As used herein, the term “mobile device” refers to a device capable ofwireless digital communication such as a smart phone, a tablet computingdevice, a laptop computer, a multimedia device or other type of devicethat provides text or voice communication.

The terms “location” and “position” are used synonymously throughout thespecification so as to define where the mobile device is in a particularenvironment. The location or position may be defined as absoluteco-ordinates, or with respect to pre-configured information such aspoints of interest on a map.

The following description is generally divided into two sections. Thefirst section relates to a method and system for determining thelocation of a mobile device. The second section relates to method andsystem for determining information characterising the motion of themobile device between two locations, and to providing navigationalinformation to guide a user of the mobile device between two locations.The method and system for determining information characterising themotion of the mobile device may make use of the method and system fordetermining the location of the mobile device according to embodimentsof the present invention. Both techniques share common advantages interms of the avoidance of manual fingerprinting, as described above.

Determining Locations

FIG. 1 illustrates a system diagram comprising the components requiredto determine the location of a mobile device according to an embodimentof the present invention. The system comprises a mobile device 10, afixed device 11, and a location beacon 12. The system is particularlyadvantageous over conventional positioning systems when arranged in anindoor environment, but the system is also operational in outdoor orpartially indoor environments.

The fixed device 11 is typically a component of office equipment, suchas a fixed-line desk phone or a PC. The location beacon 12 is integratedwith, or in proximity to, the fixed device 11, such that the location ofthe location beacon 12 substantially corresponds to the location of thefixed device 11.

The location beacon 12 comprises a radio that emits and detects signals13 based on the Bluetooth® Low Energy (BLE) protocol. The mobile device10 supports BLE and is thus able to communicate with the location beacon12. A BLE location beacon is particularly advantageous as it typicallyhas low cost, small size, is robust and efficient, and has low powerrequirements, meaning that it can be either battery-powered, or canderive power from the fixed device with which it is associated, using,for example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection. It is thus aparticularly suitable protocol for discrete low-data transfers as usedin provision of location information. Another benefit lies in theability of BLE devices to transmit and receive signals using a singleradio antenna through appropriate switching of their advertising mode,in contrast to Wi-Fi-based radio systems which must periodically switchbetween server and client modes in a data exchange.

The location beacon 12 is “named” according to the fixed device 11 withwhich it is associated. The location beam 12 derives its name bycommunication with the fixed device 11, which is in turn named using aprotocol such as Lightweight Discovery Access Protocol (LDAP). As anexample, a desk phone typically knows its extension number throughconfiguration of the phone itself, or through derivation of informationvia the phone network. Using LDAP, the desk phone can learn the name ofa user associated with that extension number. Consequently, the deskphone can deduce that it is in an office belonging to the userassociated with the extension number, and this serves as locationinformation. The location information is transmitted to the locationbeacon 12 which can in turn provide it to the mobile device 10 using BLEcommunication.

In a similar way, a network of existing desk phones within a buildingcan be used to compile a list of locations, so that the user of a mobiledevice 10 can determine its location in the building based on itsnearest desk phone, configured with a respective location beacon 12. Itwill thus be appreciated that location information can be providedthroughout the building without, or with a substantially reduced needfor an administrator to perform a finger printing process.

The location information is provided using an elegant solution becauseall that is added to the existing office hardware is the location beacon12, which in turn is configured effectively because it can leveragelocation information associated with the office hardware which hasalready been configured. As described above, in an embodiment, theconfiguration of the location information may be achieved using LDAP,but other systems are possible such as the maintenance of a server ordatabase storing a mapping between information known to the fixeddevice, such as its extension number, and user information. This mappingmay take the form of a telephone directory, for example. In analternative embodiment, in which the fixed device is a Personal Computer(PC), the PC may be associated with a number of different means ofidentification, such as a Media Access Control (MAC) address assigned tothe network controller of the PC, or an internet protocol (IP) addressdynamically assigned using the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol(DCHP). In this example, the mapping between users or physical locationsand the IP address may be maintained at a DCHP server, which the fixeddevice can access in order to determine its location.

It will be appreciated that the system set out above is applicable toboth location information provided for a single office floor, or tomultiple floors in a three-dimensional building layout. It will also beappreciated that the system could be distributed over a number ofbuildings, or a site or university campus containing a combination ofindoor and outdoor zones. In such locations, the system could becombined with GPS systems for outdoor navigation in the event that abeacon signal cannot be received.

The description of the system above assumes that a signal from a beaconsignal is always available for receipt by the mobile device 10. It ispossible, however, that in some configurations, there may be a“blackspot” which is not covered by a location beacon, or a beacon maymalfunction due to battery failure, or an associated failure with itsrespective fixed device. In such circumstances, the mobile device to mayprovide an error warning to a user via an interface hosted by anapplication running on the mobile device to, which alerts the user tothe fact that location information may be limited or inaccurate, so thatthe user can modify the system accordingly for future navigation.

Having received location information from the location beacon, a mobiledevice 20 interprets the received location information using a mappingapplication 22 running on the mobile device 20. The mapping application22 is typically configured to enable communication with the BLEcommunications modules 23 of the mobile device 20 via the centralprocessing unit 21 of the mobile device, so as to control transmissionand receipt of data, and to enable presentation of the data via display24.

The arrangement of a mobile device 20 according to an embodiment of thepresent invention is shown in FIG. 2, with components of the mobiledevice 20 contained within the dotted line. The mapping application 22hosted on the mobile device 20 contains graphical components requiredfor the generation of a map image, and the mobile device 20 is alsoarranged to communicate with components hosted remotely, such as on acloud system, the internet, or a local server 26 associated with anoffice building as shown in FIG. 2, which maintains the correspondencebetween points of interest with which a location beacon 25 may beassociated, and physical locations or user names. Location beacon 25operates in the same way as location beacon 12 described in connectionwith FIG. 1.

The mapping application 22 receives the information relating to thecorrespondence or mapping between points of interest and physicallocations and generates, and this information may be stored locally in amemory (not shown). The mapping application 22 generates an appropriategraphical layout which enables the user of the mobile device 20 tovisualise locations. The layout may show aspects of a building, such aswalls, doors, or may be a simpler logical layout showing a gridrepresenting the entire office zone. In order to facilitate theoperation of the mapping application 22, certain graphical elements maybe pre-stored at the mobile device 20 in a memory (not shown), since abuilding's physical layout is unlikely to change significantly overtime.

It is, of course, possible that the distribution of workers throughout abuilding layout may change over time, and this information will requiredynamic updating. For example, the correspondence information held atthe mobile device may state that office number 2-B-36 is that of Mr.Peter Hillier on floor 2, wing B, pod 36 of an office layout, but due toa change in circumstances, Peter Hillier has recently moved to office4-A-15. The telephone directory of the office may have been updatedaccordingly, so that Peter has the same extension number in his newoffice, even though he may be making use of a different fixed deskphone. Accordingly, a new location beacon associated with the desk phonein office 4-A-15 is able to identify itself as in Peter's office, butthe map stored at the mobile device assumes that Peter's office is2-B-36. Accordingly, the mapping application is arranged to interfacewith components such as the directory module 26 so that locationreceived from a location beacon 25 can be represented properly on a mapdisplayed to the user.

In the embodiments described above, it has been assumed that the fixeddevice 11 has a location which does not change (or that changesinfrequently per the example of moving offices above). It will beappreciated, however, that the fixed device 11 may instead be mobile. Asused in this context, the term “mobile” is intended to apply to both adevice which is continually moving, or a device which periodically movesbetween different fixed locations. This configuration is suitable wherea user of a first mobile device is attempting to determine a locationrelative to the user of a second mobile device, in the event that theuser of a second mobile device is away from their usual fixed location,either being temporarily at a new location, or walking around an office,for example. The “mobile” configuration embodiment is also suitablewhere a shared resource, such as a projector unit or speaker phone, ismoved between conference rooms in an office building when needed, andthe resource does not have a “default” location in the sense of thefixed device previously described.

In this embodiment, the second mobile device takes the place of anintegrated combination of the fixed device and the location beacon. Thesecond mobile device may define its own location with respect to afurther location beacon in the manner described above, so that the firstmobile device may determine an absolute location based on the absolutelocation of the second mobile device, and its location relative to thatof the second mobile device. A projector unit could be “tagged” with aBLE sticker, for example, and its location determined on the basis ofits proximity to a beacon.

Alternatively, only a relative position between the first and secondmobile devices is required, so that the user of the first mobile devicecan determine a direction to the second mobile device. In thisembodiment, the second mobile device could continually broadcast itsposition as it moves through a particular zone, together with mobilesubscriber information associated with the second mobile device (such asuser name, mobile phone number), so that the first mobile device candetermine its position accordingly.

In either of these two embodiments, once a series of fixed endpoints areknown it becomes possible to track users. For example, if Peter is inJonathan's office, Peter's mobile phone will report its locationinformation as “Jonathan's Office”. So people who want to find Peter cando so, even if Peter is not at his desk, by navigating to the closestfixed location that Peter's mobile device is reporting. Peter's devicethus reports the closest beacon as a means of identifying itself inproximity to a known location.

In a further embodiment, location beacons may be associated with bothfixed and mobile devices, referred to hereinafter as an “apparatus”,which represents a combination of the embodiments described previously,enabling a combination of location information taking advantage ofexisting hardware, and location information taking advantage of thepreviously-established location of another mobile device. Whether or notthe apparatus is fixed or mobile, the advantage of not requiring anadministrator to perform manual fingerprinting is provided.

Determining Directions

Embodiments of the present invention are also capable of identifyingpathways through a navigation zone in order to provide navigationalguidance to a user. Such pathways are initially identified through a“learning” process, as described below in more detail. In general terms,embodiments of the invention may make use of a location beacon 12 of thetype used in the system of FIG. 1, such as a location beacon 12 adjacentto a desk phone 11, or a standalone beacon which is not associated withany hardware. Such a standalone beacon may be connected to a powersocket, for example, or may simply be positioned on a wall whileoperating on battery power. In the following embodiments, the terms“beacon” or “sensor” are used interchangeably as a generalisation ofthese two types of configuration.

Pathways are defined as routes which a user of a mobile device may taketo move between two locations or “nodes” in an area which will bereferred to hereinafter as a “navigation zone”. It will also beappreciated that the navigation zone may be a three-dimensional volume.Multiple pathways may exist for a particular pair of locations, andembodiments of the present invention are able to identify an optimalpathway for a user to take.

According to embodiments of the present invention, the navigation zoneis provided with a plurality of spatially distributed beacons. Thebeacons may be positioned as a regular array, but may also represent anirregular array, corresponding to the locations of points of interest inthe navigation zone, such as offices 31, elevators 32, and staircases 33in a building.

An example is shown in the simplified office layout shown in FIG. 3.Each of the beacons 30-a, 30-b, 30-c, 30-d, 30-e, 30-f, 30-g, 30-h,30-i, 30-j, 30-k, 30-l, 30-m, 30-n, 30-o, 30-p, 30-q in the beacon arraycan communicate with one or more other beacons in the array.Consequently, there are one or more communication paths between anygiven pair of beacons in the array. When initially setting up the beaconarray, it is first established that a first 30-a and second 30-b beaconcan communicate with each other before a third beacon 30-c is added tothe array in communication with the first 30-a and/or second 30-bbeacon. Establishment of a connection between the first and secondbeacons 30-a, 30-b may be based on the completion of a handshakingprotocol, or exchange of messages, as confirmed to a user via a signaldetection LED on each of the first and second beacons 30-a, 30-b. If noconnection has been established, one of the first or second beacons30-a, 30-b must be moved so that it is within range. Normal operation ofeach the beacons 30-a, 30-b can also be confirmed using a separate“power on” or status LED.

Having completed the array of beacons 30 in this manner, the system isready to begin learning, so that the navigation zone as a whole can bemapped. In operation, each of the beacons 30 in the array periodically,or continually, transmits information identifying itself. Theidentification may be the result of an enumeration process in which eachbeacon in the array is assigned a number based on a particular scheme,such as physical position, or connection order. An example of anenumerated beacon array is shown in FIG. 4, showing beacons 40 labelledalphabetically from A to U.

Each beacon 40 in FIG. 4 is shown with a circular transmission zone 41surrounding it, shaded in grey, which indicates the area within which asignal could be expected to be detected by a mobile device. Each of thebeacons 40 is shown as having the same sized transmission zone 41,representing equal signal strength in all directions, and equal signalstrength for each of the beacons, but it will be appreciated thatbeacons 40 may have different signal strengths depending on the specificphysical design parameters of the beacon, or depending on its location.A fire escape, for example, may be regarded as a high priority point ofinterest in a building, such that it is associated with a beacon havinga higher signal range, or frequency of reporting, than other beacons inthe building. Although circular transmission zones are shown, it will beappreciated that the transmission zones are three-dimensional (e.g.spherical) in nature.

FIG. 4 also illustrates a number of overlapping zones 42 in whichsignals can be received from multiple beacons. This reflects therequirement that each beacon in the navigation zone is able to “see”(i.e. communicate with) one other beacon, to enable propagation ofinformation as described below.

As a mobile device moves through the beacon array, it uses anapplication that reports the direction of movement of the mobile device.The direction of movement may be identified using hardware such as amagnetic compass, or directional accelerometer. The mobile device alsoreports those signals that it can receive from beacons 40 in the array.The reporting is carried out each time a beacon 40 is detected by themobile device, and the reporting takes the form of a messagecommunicated to the beacons 40 using the BLE protocol, either as asingle instance, or as a repeated communication.

In addition to communications and processing circuitry, each beacon 40contains memory for storing data. The memory is for storing theidentification assigned to the beacon during the enumeration process. Inaddition, the memory stores the information received from the mobiledevice so that each beacon 40 can share the data with neighbouringbeacons, such that all beacons 40 in the navigation zone build up anidentical table of information indicating the nearest neighbour to aparticular beacon, and the relative direction to that beacon.

An example of such as a table 50 is shown in FIG. 5, which is generatedas a mobile device moves along a particular pathway 51 through thenavigation zone, also shown in FIG. 5. From this table 50, it can bedetermined that beacon A has beacon B as a neighbour to the East. BeaconB has beacons A (West), C (East) and H (South) as neighbours. Beacon Chas beacons B, G and H as neighbours, and so on. Motion information fromthe mobile device leads to the establishment that a pathway runningEast/West reaches beacons A, B, C and H. A pathway running North/Southreaches beacons C, H, G, M, N, Q and P. In this example, only thediscrete compass-directions are shown in Table 5, although it will beappreciated that since typical mobile devices are capable of determiningbearings to three significant figures or greater, more detailedinformation will be stored by each beacon in some embodiments.

From the table 50 in FIG. 5, it can be further calculated that if beaconA is detected by the mobile device, and the device wishes to travel tobeacon O, a course can be created which takes the East/West pathway frombeacon A to C, the North/South pathway from beacon C to P, and theEast/West pathway from P to O. The entire navigation zone can besimilarly mapped, and a series of pathways constructed.

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of the pathways 60 through the beaconarray of FIG. 4, based on the information for the entire beacon array,having the structure of that contained in the table of FIG. 5.

In FIG. 6, three North/South pathways 61, 62, 63 and three East/Westpathways 64, 65, 66 are shown. Although in general, each beacon is shownas close to a particular pathway, it is not necessary that this is thecase. As an example, beacon N is shown as more distant from a pathwaythan any of the other beacons, but the pathways surrounding it may passthrough the transmission zone associated with that beacon, so that thepathway is valid in the sense of a logical connection representing theuse of beacon N in defining transit between beacons M and Q, forexample. The variation in the position of a beacon relative to a pathwayis also reflective of the fact that in physical terms, it may not bepossible to plot a straight line through an office between beacons H andQ, due to the shape of a corridor for example, and so to interpret thepathways as logical instructions, based on the table of FIG. 5, enablesthe user to effectively translate the pathways into physical pathwayswhen walking through the office in accordance with logical guidanceinformation as described below.

The pathways of FIG. 6 illustrate that there are a number of differentpathways between the same pair of beacons. As an example, to travel frombeacon A to beacon G, paths 64, 62 and 65 could be taken, but instead,paths 64, 63 and 65 could be taken. The beacon array of the presentinvention is able to determine an optimal route between two beaconswhich is that which crosses the fewest beacons. In cases where tworoutes cross the same number of beacons, either two routes can beidentified as alternatives, or signal strengths can be analyzed forgreater accuracy where there are a many pathways, for example throughcubicles in an office. The strengths of signals received at a mobiledevice are measured to provide an indication of proximity to a beacon.Consequently, while it might be established that it is possible for themobile device to travel between two locations by crossing through thetransmission zones of particular intermediate beacons, it might also beestablished that some of those beacons are positioned further away thanothers. As such, the optimal route between two locations may bedetermined more accurately by taking into account how close to aparticular beacon the mobile device needs to be to successfullytransition from the transmission zone of that beacon to another beacon.

Routes between beacons can be stored in the memory of each beacon in thearray for later use in provision to a mobile device requestingnavigational guidance. Alternatively, the routes may be calculated“on-the-fly” when required by a processor in the beacon, but preferably,the beacon transmits information to the mobile device representing thecontent of the table 50 of FIG. 5, and a navigation application hostedby the mobile device is capable of analysing the information todetermine an optimal pathway. This arrangement harnesses the greaterprocessing power of a mobile device in comparison to that of a beacon.

Directions can be provided to a user of the mobile device“turn-by-turn”, using a the navigation application running on the mobiledevice. Each successive direction is triggered by the detection of abeacon signal by the mobile device. For example, the application tellsthe user to proceed West through the navigation zone from beacon A. Whenthe mobile device detects beacon H, a right turn is instructed so thatthe user heads South along the North/South pathway. When beacon P isdetected, the application alerts the user to take the next left so as totravel East to beacon O.

Because the beacons communicate with each other (in addition to themobile device), they can share pass data received from the mobile devicethroughout the entire beacon array. The navigation application on themobile device therefore only needs access to a single beacon to be ableto obtain navigation instructions.

The embodiments described above make use of an enumeration scheme toidentify each of the beacons in the array. Where the beacons areconnected to fixed devices in the way of the embodiment shown in FIG. 1,the present invention may take advantage of identification informationassociated with fixed devices so that the beacons are identified ascorresponding to the users of offices. Instead of providing navigationinformation step by step and relying on detection of particular beaconsignals before a next instruction is provided to the user, an entire setof navigation instructions can thus be provided to a user in advance, ina form which can be easily interpreted. For example, the instructionsmay be of the form “Head South to Sarah's office, turn right and headWest until you reach Michael's office, and then the elevators will be toyour right”. To provide the user with an indication of progress,portions of the navigation information, such as “now turn right” can berepeated to the user when certain points of interest are reached. Inaddition, the navigation application can be arranged to interface with,or integrated with, the mapping application described with reference toFIG. 2, so that the progress of the user can be confirmed on a map onthe user's mobile device, which is useful in the event the user isunfamiliar with the identity of the points of interest.

It will be appreciated that modifications to the embodiments describedabove may be made above which fall within the scope of the invention asdefined by the claims, based on interchange of some or all of thedescribed or illustrated elements. For example, any low powercommunication protocol may be used for communication between the beaconsand the mobile device, and the specific use BLE is not essential.Zigbee®, Zigbee® RF4CE, ANT®, ANT+®, IrDA®, Wi-Fi® and other wirelesssignals provide suitable alternatives. Similarly, alternatives to LDAPfor labelling beacons with location information will be apparent, suchas a reverse phone lookup service (e.g. “reverse 411”) which will take anumber and provide a name for that number, or the MAC address and/or IPaddress-based embodiment described. Another alternative would be themanual configuration of the labelling of devices as par of an“initialisation” process. Similarly, it has been described above thatbeacons may each locally store information identifying nearestneighbours or pathway information. As an alternative, groups of beaconsmay share access to a central memory at which the relevant data isstored in correspondence with a beacon, where the storage capacity of anindividual beacon is small. Embodiments may be combined in a number ofways as set out above, for example the combination of the positioningembodiments with the pathway-learning embodiments, while retaining thebenefits of the invention set out in this disclosure.

Moreover, where certain elements of the present invention can bepartially or fully implemented using known components, only thoseportions of such known components that are necessary for anunderstanding of the present invention are described, and detaileddescriptions of other portions of such known components are omitted soas not to obscure the invention. In the present invention, an embodimentshowing a singular component should not preclude other embodimentsincluding a plurality of the same component, and vice-versa, unlessexplicitly stated otherwise herein. Further, the present inventionencompasses present and future known equivalents to the known componentsreferred to herein by way of illustration.

The foregoing description is provided to enable any person skilled inthe relevant art to practice the various embodiments described herein.Various modifications to these embodiments will be readily apparent tothose skilled in the relevant art, and generic principles defined hereincan be applied to other embodiments. Thus, the claims are not intendedto be limited to the embodiments shown and described herein, but are tobe accorded the full scope consistent with the language of the claims,wherein reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean“one and only one” unless specifically stated, but rather “one or more.”All structural and functional equivalents to the elements of the variousembodiments described throughout this disclosure that are known or latercome to be known to those of ordinary skill in the relevant art areintended to be encompassed by the claims.

1. A method of providing location information to a mobile device,comprising: providing an apparatus with a beacon, in which the apparatusstores identification information associated with the apparatus; theapparatus obtaining information describing the correspondence betweenlocation information and apparatus identification information todetermine the location of the apparatus from the stored identificationinformation; the apparatus transmitting the location information to thebeacon; and the beacon transmitting the location information to themobile device.
 2. A method according to claim 1, wherein thecorrespondence between location information and apparatus identificationinformation is based on a Lightweight Directory Access Protocol, LDAP.3. A method according to claim 1, wherein the correspondence betweenlocation information and apparatus identification information is storedat the apparatus.
 4. A method according to claim 2, in which thelocation information provided to the mobile device is converted into aposition in a predetermined mapping zone stored at the mobile device. 5.A method according to claim 3, in which the location informationprovided to the mobile device is converted into a position in apredetermined mapping zone stored at the mobile device.
 6. A method ofdetermining information defining movement of a mobile device through anavigation zone, comprising: providing the navigation zone with an arrayof beacons, in which each of the beacons in the array is incommunication with one or more other beacons in the array; providing amobile device at a first location in the navigation zone; the mobiledevice communicating with a first beacon in proximity to the firstlocation to indicate its proximity to the first beacon; the mobiledevice moving through the navigation zone to a second location andcommunicating with a second beacon in the array in proximity to thesecond location to indicate its proximity to the second beacon; themobile device providing the second beacon with information defining thedirection of movement of the mobile device between the first and secondlocations; and the second beacon communicating with the first beacon toshare the relative positions of the second and first beacons, based onthe direction of movement of the mobile device.
 7. A method according toclaim 6, further comprising providing navigation information to themobile device between two locations based on the relative position ofbeacons respectively located at each of the two locations.
 8. A methodaccording to claim 7, in which providing navigation informationcomprises determining an optimal route between the two locations, inwhich the optimal route is a pathway which passes the fewest number ofbeacons.
 9. A method according to claim 6 in which the mobile devicedetermines information defining the direction of movement of the mobiledevice between the first and second locations based on a sensor in thedevice, in which the sensor may be a magnetic compass.
 10. A methodaccording to claim 6 in which the mobile device further communicates tothe second beacon information relating to the signal strength of signalsreceived by the mobile device at the second location from a plurality ofbeacons in the array, and the second beacon uses the receivedinformation to define its position relative to each of the plurality ofbeacons from which signals are received by the mobile device.
 11. Amethod according to claim 6 in which the second beacon providesinformation to a third beacon defining the location of the first beaconrelative to the second beacon, the third beacon determining its locationrelative to the first beacon using the received information.
 12. Asystem for providing location information to a mobile device,comprising: an apparatus storing identification information associatedwith the apparatus; a beacon provided in proximity to the apparatus;wherein the apparatus is configured to obtain information describing amapping between location information and apparatus identificationinformation to determine the location of the apparatus from the storedidentification information; the apparatus is configured to transmit thelocation information to the beacon; and the beacon is configured totransmit the location information to the mobile device.
 13. A systemaccording to claim 12 in which the apparatus has a fixed location and isa computer or a fixed-line telephone.
 14. A system according to claim 12in which the beacon is arranged to communicate with the mobile deviceusing Bluetooth Low Energy, BLE.
 15. A system for determininginformation defining movement of a mobile device through a navigationzone, comprising a plurality of beacons distributed over a navigationzone, in which each of the plurality of beacons is in communication withone or more other beacons of the plurality of beacons; wherein a firstbeacon in proximity to a first location is arranged to receiveinformation from a mobile device confirming it is in proximity to thefirst beacon; a second beacon in proximity to a second location isarranged to receive information from a mobile device confirming it is inproximity to the second first beacon; the second beacon is furtherconfigured to receive information defining the direction of movement ofthe mobile device between the first and second locations; and the secondbeacon is arranged to communicate with the first beacon to share therelative positions of the second and first beacons, based on thereceived information relating to the movement of the mobile device. 16.A system according to claim 15 further comprising a plurality of systemsof claim 12, in which each of the plurality of beacons is provided inproximity to a respective apparatus in a respective one of the systemsaccording to claim 12 and is arranged to transmit location informationto the mobile device.